NASA rethinking death in mission to Mars
POSTED: 2:35 p.m. EDT, May 1, 2007
http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/space/05/01/death.in.space.ap/index.html
CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (AP) -- How do you get rid of the body of a
dead astronaut on a three-year mission to Mars and back?
When should the plug be pulled on a critically ill astronaut who is
using up precious oxygen and endangering the rest of the crew? Should
NASA employ DNA testing to weed out astronauts who might get a
disease on a long flight?
With NASA planning to land on Mars 30 years from now, and with the
recent discovery of the most "Earth-like" planet ever seen outside
the solar system, the space agency has begun to ponder some of the
thorny practical and ethical questions posed by deep space exploration.
Some of these who-gets-thrown-from-the-lifeboat questions are
outlined in a NASA document on crew health obtained by The Associated
Press through a Freedom of Information Act request.
NASA doctors and scientists, with help from outside bioethicists and
medical experts, hope to answer many of these questions over the next
several years.
"As you can imagine, it's a thing that people aren't really
comfortable talking about," said Dr. Richard Williams, NASA's chief
health and medical officer. "We're trying to develop the ethical
framework to equip commanders and mission managers to make some of
those difficult decisions should they arrive in the future."
One topic that is evidently too hot to handle: How do you cope with
sexual desire among healthy young men and women during a mission
years long?
Sex is not mentioned in the document and has long been almost a taboo
topic at NASA. Williams said the question of sex in space is not a
matter of crew health but a behavioral issue that will have to be
taken up by others at NASA.
The agency will have to address the matter sooner or later, said Paul
Root Wolpe, a bioethicist at the University of Pennsylvania who has
advised NASA since 2001.
"There is a decision that is going to have to be made about mixed-sex
crews, and there is going to be a lot of debate about it," he said.
The document does spell out some health policies in detail, such as
how much radiation astronauts can be exposed to from space travel (No
more radiation than the amount that would increase the risk of cancer
by 3 percent over the astronaut's career) and the number of hours
crew members should work each week (No more than 48 hours).
But on other topics -- such as steps for disposing of the dead and
cutting off an astronaut's medical care if he or she cannot survive
-- the document merely says these are issues for which NASA needs a
policy.
"There may come a time in which a significant risk of death has to be
weighed against mission success," Wolpe said. "The idea that we will
always choose a person's well-being over mission success, it sounds
good, but it doesn't really turn out to be necessarily the way
decisions always will be made."
For now, astronauts and cosmonauts who become critically sick or
injured at the international space station -- something that has
never happened -- can leave the orbiting outpost 220 miles above
Earth and return home within hours aboard a Russian Soyuz space vehicle.
That wouldn't be possible if a life-and-death situation were to arise
on a voyage to Mars, where the nearest hospital is millions of mile
away.
Moreover, Mars-bound astronauts will not always be able to rely on
instructions from Mission Control, since it would take nearly a half-
hour for a question to be asked and an answer to come back via radio.
Astronauts going to the moon and Mars for long periods of time must
contend with the basic health risks from space travel, multiplied
many times over: radiation, the loss of muscle and bone, and the
psychological challenges of isolation.
NASA will consider whether astronauts must undergo preventive
surgery, such as an appendectomy, to head off medical emergencies
during a mission, and whether astronauts should be required to sign
living wills with end-of-life instructions.
The space agency also must decide whether to set age restrictions on
the crew, and whether astronauts of reproductive age should be
required to bank sperm or eggs because of the risk of genetic
mutations from radiation exposure during long trips.
Already, NASA is considering genetic screening in choosing crews on
the long-duration missions. That is now prohibited.
"Genetic screening must be approached with caution ... because of
limiting employment and career opportunities based on use of genetic
information," Williams said.
NASA's three major tragedies resulting in 17 deaths -- Apollo 1,
Challenger and Columbia -- were caused by technical rather than
medical problems. NASA never has had to abort a mission because of
health problems, though the Soviet Union had three such episodes.
Some believe the U.S. space agency has not adequately prepared for
the possibility of death during a mission.
"I don't think they've been great at dealing with this type of thing
in the past," said former astronaut Story Musgrave, a six-time space
shuttle flier who has a medical degree. "But it's very nice that
they're considering it now."